For weeks, the Milwaukee Brewers’ success was troublesome to explain. They weren’t flashy, and there weren’t loads of frills, however they only discovered methods to win. After a sluggish begin to a season with low expectations from the exterior, that they had one thing to show.
And now, with the team having put collectively not solely the best stretch in baseball this season but additionally the best stretch in franchise historical past, there’s just one solution to describe the 2025 Brewers.
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Over the previous two months, there was seemingly nothing the Brewers can’t do. Comeback victories? Done. Blowout wins? Got it. Offensive breakouts? Yep. Elite beginning pitching? Of course. And the contributors will be discovered up and down Milwaukee’s 26-man roster — a roster that has seen loads of additions all through the course of the season.
Entering play Wednesday, the Brewers have the best record in the sport by 5 video games, and so they have been the first team in MLB to clear the 70-win threshold. Calling their latest two-month stretch unbelievable virtually doesn’t do it justice. Since June 1, the Brewers are 44-16; that’s a .733 profitable proportion. For perspective, the 2001 Seattle Mariners, who received an MLB-record 116 video games, received at a .716 clip.
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Two months is a ridiculous quantity of time for the Brewers to maintain play at this degree, and whereas many have been anticipating them to chill off, they merely haven’t. With Tuesday’s 14-0 demolition of the Pirates, Milwaukee has won 11 straight, marking its second 10-plus-game profitable streak since the begin of July. The Brew Crew are simply the tenth team in the divisional period to have a number of 10-plus-game profitable streaks in a season.
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And so the query relating to the Milwaukee Brewers’ dominance turns into: How are they doing this? And can they stick with it?
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Well, they’ve made a behavior of doing nearly every thing properly. Offensively, the Brewers are second in batting common, second in on-base proportion and fifth in slugging proportion since June started. On the mound, they rank second in starter ERA and third in bullpen ERA. And defensively, they’ve been stable all season, rating third in outs above common and sixth in defensive runs saved.
“We like putting pressure on and getting guys on base and moving runners, so that’s always going to be our bread and butter,” proper fielder Sal Frelick stated lately. “But at the same time, it’s awesome when you see guys going and taking shots and hit balls over the fence.”
Could the 2025 Brewers be the team that wins the first World Series in franchise historical past? (Joseph Raines/Yahoo Sports)
The outdated adage goes, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” and that’s a mentality that many latest Brewers groups have embodied. This season is not any completely different, however make no mistake, this squad can also be getting robust particular person performances from some unlikely contributors.
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First baseman Andrew Vaughn, the third decide in the 2019 MLB Draft, now not had a spot in Chicago after a disappointing tenure with the White Sox. But a commerce that despatched him 90 minutes north has introduced the Cal product new life. Since becoming a member of the Brewers, Vaughn has been one of baseball’s best hitters, slashing .347/.413/.642 with eight homers in 30 video games. His 1.055 OPS since July 7 ranks sixth in MLB (min. 100 PAs).
“He’s been huge for us,” Brewers left fielder Christian Yelich stated. “Just stepping up, and it’s kind of a theme throughout our team. You get an opportunity, you’re put in a position, just do what you can to contribute and help the boys out. So it’s been great to see from him. He fits our group really well, just who he is as a person and competitor and player.”
On the mound, right-hander Quinn Preister, as soon as a prime prospect in baseball, was additionally searching for a brand new house after starting the season with the Red Sox’s Triple-A affiliate. With the Brewers needing to stabilize their injured rotation early this yr, Milwaukee took an opportunity on the 18th total decide from the 2019 draft, buying and selling for Priester in April.
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Since then, Priester has greater than stuffed a void for Milwaukee. Even with different starters getting wholesome, he has earned himself a daily spot in the rotation. The Brewers’ right-hander is 11-2 with a 3.49 ERA in 2025 and has been even higher as a starter, with a really respectable 3.03 ERA.
Beyond the new faces in Milwaukee, even identified commodities corresponding to Yelich have been in a position to flip again the clock. Although now not the celebrity expertise he as soon as was, Yelich has stayed wholesome and been productive this yr whereas offering the veteran presence on a younger roster. The 2018 NL MVP has 23 homers on the season thus far, his most since 2019.
But, as supervisor Pat Murphy identified, “It’s not just all slug. He does all the other things … Defends when you put him out there. Run the bases. Take the extra base. And offensively, bunts, does whatever he has to do to help us win. Runs a hard 90. Cuts the bases as good as anybody. He’s a good player, and when one aspect is not going good, he can do it another way.”
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It’s value noting that Milwaukee’s spectacular couple of months have coincided with their division rival Chicago Cubs enduring their worst stretch of the season. While the Brewers have regarded virtually unbeatable since the starting of June, the Cubs have gone a mediocre 31-29. As a consequence, over the previous eight weeks, Milwaukee has moved from third in the NL Central and trailing Chicago by 5.5 video games to main the division by 7.5 video games over the Cubs.
The Brewers will play a five-game set towards Chicago subsequent week at Wrigley Field in what’s shaping as much as be a important closing battle between the two groups. It might be the Cubs’ final actual likelihood to get again in the divisional race. Or, given the manner the groups have been taking part in currently, the Brewers may extinguish any remaining hope the Cubs have of profitable the NL Central.
“Seems like it’s the best rivalry in baseball right now — between that and the Dodgers and Padres,” Milwaukee nearer Trevor Megill stated of the Cubs and Brewers. “Every time we play, either [in Milwaukee] or over at Wrigley, it’s not a seat in the house that’s empty, and everybody is energized.”
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Beyond the impression on the NL Central, the Brewers’ unbelievable summer time run has modified the complexion of the whole National League. If the season ended at this time, Milwaukee can be the NL’s No. 1 seed, with a ticket punched for the NLDS and home-field benefit via the NL playoffs.
“The Brewers are a very good organization,” Cubs supervisor (and former Brewers skipper) Craig Counsell stated lately. “They’re very well run. They have exceptional leadership. That’s a part of that. And so, yeah, it makes this fun, right? And it makes this interesting. And it makes this good competition, man. This is the highest level of competition. That’s what’s great about it.”
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On the floor, the Brewers’ success may look unsustainable, however they appear to have discovered a recipe that’s permitting them to take care of their degree of play for months at a time. They’re assured and composed, taking part in like a team that has been right here earlier than. Still, it needs to be identified that they’re one of the youngest squads in baseball, and whereas many of the gamers on this yr’s roster performed in the 2024 wild-card spherical towards the Mets, most of the team’s new faces and rookies, corresponding to Isaac Collins and Jacob Misiorowski, are getting a crash course on the large leagues in the midst of a pennant race — and thriving.
At this level in the season, with baseball’s contenders separating themselves and the playoff image rising, nothing appears to be slowing the Brew Crew down, and what they’re constructing appears to be like robust sufficient to wreak havoc in October. Could this be the team that lastly wins the franchise’s first World Series?
“There’s still two months of baseball left — we know that,” Yelich stated earlier this month. “Let’s go out there and play our game, try to put pressure on [the other team], and you never know what can happen. Just play hard and make it messy out there and kind of play our style of baseball and see what happens.”